'Adult' diabetes hitting children.(type 2 diabetes)

Byline: Raja Mishra

Jun. 12--Driven by the obesity epidemic, type 2 diabetes -- once called "adult-onset" -- is becoming increasingly common among children and teenagers, to the point where it now accounts for almost half of new diabetes cases in US teens, according to federal figures.

And a study released yesterday provides the first hard evidence that the disease is particularly dangerous when it strikes so early in life: Federal researchers presented data indicating that people who developed type 2 diabetes as children were far more likely to suffer severe kidney complications later in life than those diagnosed with diabetes as adults.

Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and with over 15 percent of US children and adolescents now obese or overweight, the study underscores the toll the nation's losing battle with weight gain could exact on children, specialists said. Exposed at a young age to the damaging blood-sugar spikes characteristic of type 2 diabetes, children could suffer and die in vast numbers in coming years, they said.

"We have kids that are 10, 11 years old with type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Diego Botero, co-director of the type 2 diabetes…